The wife of a Rugby League player has blamed the Samoan government for the deadly measles outbreak currently ravaging the country. 9News
As of Wednesday, Samoa had seen 4052 people infected by measles, with 171 cases being diagnosed in under 24 hours. Data confirms the death toll has reached 60, with 52 of those people aged four and under.
Until now, vaccination efforts in the country have been concentrated on children. However, the government has now widened the programme to include the entire population, taking the immunisation rate from 30 per cent before the outbreak to 55 per cent. Samoa's prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has vowed to get the figure to above 90 per cent.
"Our children and people will never become immune to any future epidemic unless we have almost 100 percent vaccination coverage," Malielegaoi said while touring a hospital ward on Wednesday.
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